Nonprofit Organizations Law Commons^™

Foreword: Law, Culture, Education, And Politics, Faith Stevelman

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Nonprofit Hospital Mergers And Section 7 Of The Clayton Act: Closing An Antitrust Loophole, Laura L. Stephens

Faculty Scholarship

Nonprofit hospitals developed out of the charitable hospital movement, which began in the mid-nineteenth century.' The early voluntary hospitals depended upon local benefactors for financing.² Originally conceived as charitable institutions providing long-term care, these hospitals began to change their focus around the turn of the century.³ A changed mission-providing care to all rather than just poor inpatients with chronic problems-required the latest medical technology.⁴ This in turn demanded increased construction of up-to-date facilities, as well as large operating expenses.

Recent years have seen further pressure on hospital budgets, as the health-care sector of the economy has become …

Farmers And Ranchers, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This book review, part of the third/nonprofit sector literature considers a case study of informal cooperation and decision-making in Shasta County, California. In certain key respects, the case parallels issues of the research literature on commons.

Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Member Of The Aclu, David Cole

Michigan Law Review

A Review of In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU by Samuel Walker

The Charitable Status Of Nonprofit Hospitals: Toward A Donative Theory Of Tax Exemption, Mark A. Hall, John D. Colombo

Washington Law Review

This Article examines the growing controversy over the multi-billion dollar charitable tax exemption enjoyed by nonprofit hospitals. It begins by articulating four criteria for evaluating a rationale of the charitable exemption: deservedness, incorporating the elements of worth and need; proportionality; universality; and historical consistency. The Article then employs these criteria to refute three conventional explanations of why nonprofit hospitals are exempt: because health care is a per se charitable activity; because the treatment of indigent patients relieves a government burden; and because nonprofit hospitals provide community benefits. The Article also uses these criteria to refute two academic theories: Boris Bittker's …

Altruism In Nonprofit Organizations, Rob Atkinson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

The Doctrine Of Charitable Immunity: Alive And Well In Virginia, Michelle Redavid Rack

University of Richmond Law Review

Until recent years, the doctrine of charitable immunity was believed by many Virginia practitioners to be an archaic defense limited to charitable hospitals. This belief likely arose out of the fact that until 1988 every Supreme Court of Virginia case addressing the doctrine involved its application to hospitals. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, applying Virginia law, broadened the doctrine over the years by extending charitable immunity to a nonprofit college, a confederate memorial association, and an historical church. However, the scope of charitable immunity remained virtually untested in the Supreme Court of Virginia until the recent cases …

Dispute Over The United States’ Denial Of A Visa To Yasir Arafat, Sadiq Reza

Faculty Scholarship

On November 26, 1988, the United States denied a visa to Yasir Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), when he sought to enter the United States to attend the forty-third session of the United Nations (UN) in New York. The denial rekindled a forty-year-old dispute between the United States and the UN over the extent to which the United States may, under the terms of the Agreement Between the United Nations and the United States of America Regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations (Headquarters Agreement), restrict entry to persons seeking to enter the …

Towering Above Charities: Real Estate Development By Nonprofit Organizations, Zoning Variances, And The Reasonable Return Finding, Eric J. Gruber

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Does Charity Begin At Home? The Tax Status Of A Payment To An Individual As A Charitable Deduction, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In White v. United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed a district court decision and held that the taxpayers could deduct expenses they paid directly to their dependent son to support his missionary activities away from home. In Brinley v. Commissioner, the Tax Court sitting in Texas refused to follow the Tenth Circuit in White, and held that while the missionary son was entitled to deduct his personal expenses, the parents could not deduct their payment of the son's expenses.

This Note supports the result in Brinley and argues that the …

Job Satisfaction And Job Performance: A Meta-Analysis, Michelle Iaffaldano [Graef], Paul M. Muchinsky

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The assumption that job satisfaction and job performance are related has much intuitive appeal, despite the fact that reviewers of this literature have concluded there is no strong pervasive relation between these two variables. The present meta-analytic study demonstrates that (a) the best estimate of the true population correlation between satisfaction and performance is relatively low (.17); (b) much of the variability in results obtained in previous research has been due to the use of small sample sizes, whereas unreliable measurement of the satisfaction and performance constructs has contributed relatively little to this observed variability in correlations; and (c) nine …

Freedom Of Association After Roberts V. United States Jaycees, Douglas O. Linder

Michigan Law Review

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Roberts v. United States Jaycees, upholding a Minnesota ruling which requires the Minnesota Jaycees to admit women as full members, ended one controversy but marked only the beginning of a far larger one. It was predicted by many that U.S. Jaycees would answer the question of whether private associations with restrictive membership policies were vulnerable to state anti-discrimination laws or were constitutionally protected. It did not. Instead, while rejecting the Jaycees' constitutional claims, the Court established a comprehensive framework for analyzing future claims of associational freedom that contains a number of …

The Public-Spirited Defendant And Others: Liability Of Directors And Officers Of Not-For-Profit Corporations, 17 J. Marshall L. Rev. 665 (1984), Bennet B. Harvey Jr.

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Irs Denials Of Charitable Status: A Social Welfare Organization Problem, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the courts and the Service should recognize social welfare organizations as charitable and, consequently, contributions to such organizations should be tax deductible. Part I describes the Service's position and sets forth the statutory arguments supporting it. Part II raises two objections to the Service's position: (1) the distinction between social welfare organizations and charitable organizations lacks an adequate statutory justification, and (2) this distinction produces unpredictable and arbitrary results. Part III proposes that all social welfare organizations be accorded charitable status under subsection 50l(c)(3). This proposal would eliminate the arbitrary results now reached by the Service, …

Another Theory Of Nonprofit Corporations, Ira Mark Ellman

Michigan Law Review

This Article argues that the distinction between donors and customers is critical, and that the contract failure model is therefore seriously flawed. It distinguishes two types of nonprofit corporations - those structured to satisfy donors' needs ("donative nonprofits") and those structured to satisfy customers' needs ("mutual benefit nonprofits"). This dichotomy suggests a very different nonprofit corporation law than the one urged by Hansmann. Once the concept of contract failure is limited to donors, it can be refined to serve as part of the rationale for donative nonprofits. Refining the concept of contract failure reveals, however, that it confuses the analysis …

Refugee Resettlement In The United States: The Role Of The Voluntary Agencies, Norman L. Zucker

Michigan Journal of International Law

Statistics on refugee resettlement in the United States are obsolete as soon as they are published. What does remain current and constant, however, is that there is a global refugee crisis. The numbers of refugees in the world are not likely to diminish, and indeed, given the vagaries of international politics, the world's refugee population is likely to increase. As a major world power the United States has had to evolve a refugee policy. This policy operates on two levels: on the foreign level there has been an attempt to provide for the regional and international resettlement of refugees and …

The Public Interest And Governing Boards Of Nonprofit Health Care Institutions, Robin Dimieri, Stephen Weiner

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article specifically considers whether the existing legal system permits corporate governance mechanisms to function in a manner that promotes the public interest, particularly the public's interest in disclosure and participation in institutional policy development. The Article focuses on the viability of corporate governance structures in the health care industry, with special emphasis on the nonprofit hospital corporation. The Article begins with an overview of the issue of role reversal between management and directors of nonprofit corporations.The manifestations of role reversal are seen in the trend in non-profit corporations toward excessive delegation of board powers to executive committees, the elimination …

The Nonprofit Health Care Corporation Reform Act Of 1980, David L. Hollister, Patience A. Drake

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In recent years, Blue Cross/Blue Shield has been the subject of considerable controversy. Its critics charge the non-profit, tax-exempt corporation with being unduly secretive, arrogantly unresponsive to consumer interest and not vigorous in its cost containment efforts. These criticisms, along with a variety of other factors, led to the legislative reform I am here to talk to you about this evening.

Revolving Funds: In The Vanguard Of The Preservation Movement, J. Myrick Howard

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Limitations On The Lobbying Of Section 501(C)(3) Organizations--A Choice For The Public Charities, James H. Nix

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Discriminatory Membership Policies In Federally Chartered Nonprofit Corporations, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Since 1791 the United States has created federal corporations by specific acts of Congress. These corporations fall into three general types, including corporations organized in the District of Columbia, corporations that carry out a federal governmental or public function, and private nonprofit corporations that undertake educational, charitable, historical, cultural or similar purposes. About fifty groups comprise the third category, including the American National Red Cross, the Girl Scouts of America, the Boy Scouts of America, the United States Olympic Committee, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), and the Little League.

Recently, the discriminatory …

Delegation Of Investment Powers By Charitable Trustees, Richard B. Urda Jr.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Over the past few years the activities of philanthropic organizations have been undergoing considerable critical scrutiny. Congressional committees, private commissions, and individuals have extensively analyzed institutionalized charity. An area of particular concern involves problems created by the investment policies of charitable organizations. One investment problem that has not received much attention, however, is the plight of the natural person trustee of a charitable trust who, in general, is legally prohibited from delegating his responsibility for investment of trust funds. Almost one-third of all charitable foundations take the legal form of trusts. Of the foundations organized as charitable trusts, over 60 …

Religious Corporations And The Law, Paul G. Kauper, Stephen C. Ellis

Michigan Law Review

This article will attempt to present a picture of the legal status of religious organizations, with particular reference to the enjoyment of the corporate privilege. Necessarily, this will involve at the outset an historical review tracing the development of that status, beginning with the practice of granting special charters to churches and culminating in the now familiar general incorporation statute. Special attention will be paid to distinctive problems that arose in Utah, Pennsylvania, and Virginia concerning corporate status. The historical review is followed by a summary survey of the current state laws relating to the incorporation of churches. The last …

Constitutional Law - The Granting Of Tax Exemptions By States For Religious Properties Used For Devotional Purposes Does Not Violate The Religion Clauses Of The First Amendment To The United States Constitution, Charles J. Werling

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The United States Post Office, Incorporated: A Blueprint For Reform, Stanley Siegel

Michigan Law Review

For several generations, the United States Post Office has been the textbook demonstration of the inefficiency of the government in business. To some, the solution to its problems lies only in turning over its functions to free enterprise. A more constructive and politic approach is to inquire whether a structural arrangement falling somewhere between that of a governmental department and that of a privately owned business would permit the Post Office to achieve some of the efficiencies of private enterprise without compromising the most essential elements of public responsibility. This approach has been given new timeliness by the proposal of …

Non-Profit Organizations As A Law School Course, Howard L. Oleck

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Foundations And The Patman Committee Report, John E. Riecker

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this article to evaluate the major points of the first, and main, installment of Congressman Patman's Report in the light of existing Internal Revenue Code provisions, Treasury regulations, and the more significant federal court decisions and Internal Revenue Service rulings. While the Report itself is more inclusive, space limitations dictate that this article be confined to section 501(c)(3) organizations-chiefly foundations, tax-exempt funds, and charitable trusts. Although the writer will strive to be objective, it is difficult to avoid some of the political gloss in which the Report is cast and impossible to discuss the ramifications …

Taxation-Federal Income Taxation-The Three-Party Sale And Lease-Back, Lawrence R. Velvel S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The so-called sale and lease-back device has long been the subject of judicial and governmental scrutiny. The Internal Revenue Service has recently decided to begin a more active campaign of enforcement against a certain three-party variation of the sale and lease-back device. The structure of this variation can be best understood by considering the following hypothetical situation.

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Religious Order Not Exempt From Supplment U Tax As A Church, Alan Rothenberg

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a non-profit, membership corporation consists of members of the Christian Brothers Order, and was established to furnish religious and secular education to youth. The Catholic Church considers religious instruction to be the performance of a church function, and property of the Christian Brothers Order is church property according to Roman Catholic canon law. During the taxable years in question plaintiff owned and operated a novitiate, Catholic schools, homes for the Brothers, and a winery and distillery. Plaintiff was assessed and paid $489,800.83 as a Supplement U tax on its unrelated business income realized from the winery and distillery operation. …

Municipal Corporations - Tort Liability - Duty To Protect Informers, Thomas A. Kauper S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Decedent Schuster supplied information to the police which led to the arrest of the notorious Willie "The Actor" Sutton. After decedent's part in the arrest was widely publicized he received threats against his life. He demanded police protection, which was denied on a belief that the threats were not seriously made. Three weeks later the decedent was shot and killed by an unknown assailant. Plaintiff, administrator of decedent's estate, sued the defendant city to recover damages for wrongful death. The supreme court dismissed the complaint, and the appellate division affirmed. On appeal, held, reversed, three judges dissenting. The complaint …